It's alive!

@elleschneider tweeted me saying that the crank issue was one that should have been fixed in a past version of the camera, and they simply sent me the wrong one

Huh.

Just plug in two mics, and take a $10 voltmeter and measure the current. Takes one minute.

@elle Phantom power is not voltage; it is voltage plus draw. Power up two mics on Y cables, then measure the current using a DC voltmeter. I can test it if you like.

For those who are concerned about P48 (as your mic may not give full performance without it) this is one reason who videographers often use the MK41+CMC6. Even if the power fluctuates, say when plugging another mic in, you have DC to DC conversion within the mic.

Most gear that "upsamples" P48, in this case, we are presumably (I don't have the camera to test) looking at at 12 volt upconversion. That is, you convert alternating to DC 12v, then up to P48. The better way is to have a fully isolated P48 downconverted from the 120 or 220 AC or whatever, that's what better mic preamps do.

However, you can always use the Schoeps CMC 6 or buy P48 external if needed. Upconverting gear typically, according to my own measurements, puts out about 36 volts under load. A mic like the MKH800 will not operate at 36 volts, but many mics will. DEpends on the mic. Most of my preamps are in the 50 to 52 volt range which is ideal.

Bolex may have a better design, and it may indeed put out the full 48 volts loaded with two Neumann mics. If they do, and I hope they do, that will be a nice feature.

Have any of the original backers actually received a camera yet? I'm suspicious as all hell, but I'd love to see some real world, real set footage that blows me away.

Or I'd love to see a video where someone takes a chisel to hack off the hand crank if the former is not available.

"Y'all are behind on the times! I'm surprised you don't subscribe to our forum or blog for easier trolling! 5sf and Max Well have released footage shot on the production camera and posted it online. Joe Dante used the camera for the opening titles of his new film BURYING THE EX. We've shot A and B unit on 2 episodes of Netflix's HEMLOCK GROVE. Another feature film is using the camera in New York as we speak! The tides, they are a changin'." Elle

@Elle, I really wish you the best, and think that the audio stage may be a key differentiator, and but you constantly shoot yourselves in the foot by posting samples that are so compromised that careful outside evaluation is difficult to impossible.

Take these samples you cite, one is five seconds of quick cuts and the other is B&W. Come on, no way that says anything about the camera. Then the sound sample, run through a online enhancer and the voice is run through a Mix Pre mixer. The "vintage film" look video was highly graded.

Why is EVERY sample from "production" cameras compromised? No ungraded takes under less tha optimal conditions.

I really want to be able to order a camera for a nonprofit who I shoot for, but I cannot as long as it is not only unknown but surrounded by compromised samples that COULD be covering up flaws, but certainly are nearly impossible to evaluate. Never before have I seen a high level camera released with such poorly executed samples. Not that I did not enjoy Kattail, I actually really like her music, but a black and white video as the ONLY extended sample sample of a newly shipping camera?

I prefer good color to higher resolution, but how can we tell what this camera does? Some of your early samples had bad magenta cast, just as the Ikonoskop did from the same sensor family. We have to make sure that that is gone. And you give us a B&W sample? The Venice Beach work with the preproduction camera was promising, and it is why you are still on our potential buy list, but I cannot tell this nonprofit to commit scarce resources on a hope, wish and prayer.

@elle

You don't have any idea what you are making by typing in this site. The more you write the more prone to fail you are. This site is surrounded by monsters, lol, i see how much data have you give without even notice. Good luck.

@elle phantom power on DB16 is 12V?

@elle if the Bolex can outresolve the Samsung Note 3 Smartphone, which costs $500-$600, I will make a 4K video of myself eating (well, nibbling) my hat and post it online. If you will do the same if it goes the other way.

We like their ethos and we think it matches ours. That's about it :)

@elle I'm sure that with an EVF it is easy to hold, but it's also just as easy to hold other cameras with an EVF. I only mentioned this in response to your claim that the ergonomics are a differential, but I don't see it that way. Same with the audio: it's easy enough to get good audio without XLR's built into camera. It's certainly a plus all things considered, but is it worth the extra money? I still think that the global shutter is the number one variable difference between your camera and the competition though certainly priced more. Whether or not it is worth it remains to be seen.

I know about the guest videos from this website as I think they are all in this thread. I'm sorry to say that they are underwhelming and usually followed by an explanation from one of the posters here excusing it: for example "Oh their post production process was very quick so they didn't have time to really play with the image, but once a really talented DP gets ahold of the camera you'll really see it shine!" So it's really hard to pass judgement until we see more stuff, but if the cameras will be in people's hands in the next few weeks, we will know soon enough.

@maxr that was the video I was talking about. audio sounds fine though it says the voice was recorded with a TLM 102 into a MixPre line into camera, the guitar was recorded with the camera's XLR's. But why not shoot this video on a sunny day outside with extreme shadows to show off the camera's DR?

@baypanda and @digger in publicity world, good or bad, important thing is they talk

@babypanda I don't agree with you. Whether or not people have spent years of their lives working on something should not preclude others from speculating on it. This DB thread has been going for almost 2 years, and the only time people seem to talk about it is when there is some new update (however sporadic). Now that "the camera has shipped" as we are being constantly reminded, they are offering people a chance to order from the next batch. Since there is nothing else to go on besides heavily graded web videos or flatly lit interiors, I think speculating on whether or not pre-ordering from the next batch is a wise decision is absolutely called for. I don't know about you, but one of the main reasons I frequent this site is for the usually honest assessments from people of all different opinions from which I can make up my own mind.